Tell us if you saw this one coming at all. Former Maple Leafs, Hurricanes and Senators goalie Martin Gerber is returning to North American after a year in the KHL to play with the Edmonton Oilers. Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos provides the details of the signing via Twitter.

Oilers sign Martin Gerber 1 year / 2-way contract. 500/200 guaranteed in minors. Oilers have him pegged as a 3/4 goalie in system.

A two-way contract at least alleviates the potential logjam the Oilers will face in goal as each of Nikolai Khabibulin, Devan Dubnyk and Jeff Deslauriers are all signed to one-way contracts. That’s not to say that at least Dubnyk and Deslauriers would face issues going through waivers should Gerber beat them out for a job in Edmonton, they likely wouldn’t get snagged by another team. At the very least, Edmonton’s AHL team in Oklahoma City will have a very capable goaltender there waiting to jump into the fire should Khabibulin end up in jail or if Deslauriers or Dubnyk run into problems.

Last we saw or heard from Martin Gerber was during the 2010 Winter Olympics as he played backup goalie to Jonas Hiller for Team Switzerland. He did start for Switzerland in the 2010 IIHF World Championships and won three games for the Swiss while posting solid numbers with a 1.41 goals against average and a .935 save percentage. In the KHL, Gerber played for Mytischi Atlant and held strong with a 2.19 goals against average and .914 save percentage.

Having been away from the NHL for a full year might help teams forget how he struggled in his last couple of years with the Maple Leafs and Senators and there’s no doubt there’s a comfort factor in Edmonton where former Swiss head coach Ralph Krueger now works as an assistant. Perhaps Gerber can rebound his career with the Oil.

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Raanta rewards Rangers for starts over Lundqvist by blanking Blackhawks

If someone told you that the New York Rangers started a goalie on back-to-back nights, and that goalie wasn’t Henrik Lundqvist, you’d probably wonder if he was hurt or retired.

Nope. It just so happens that Antti Raanta is playing at an incredibly high level, Alain Vigneault noticed, and that decision paid dividends on Friday night. Raanta won both nights of a back-to-back, allowing a single goal (with the Rangers protecting him, being that he only needed to stop 43 of 44 shots during that span).

Raanta and the Rangers blanked the Chicago Blackhawks with a 1-0 overtime win, at least briefly climbing to first place in the massively competitive Metro Division:

Meanwhile, the Blackhawks lost but at least salvaged a standings point and it seems like Patrick Kane is OK after this injury scare:

Raanta improved to 7-1-0 on the season, allowing two goals or less in all but one of his appearances so far this season. That’s the kind of work you’d expect to see if you’re going sit a guy who’s, you know, a living legend.

As the Columbus Blue Jackets keep rolling, the Detroit Red Wings are probably just happy to get Friday behind them.

For the second straight game, the Blue Jackets beat their opponent 4-1.

They’re now on a five-game winning streak, and like the climbing St. Louis Blues, things look great if you go back a little further. They’re 10-1-2 in their last 13 games and 13-2-3 since November began.

The New Jersey Devils have been incredibly difficult to beat at home. Lately, the St. Louis Blues have been on a roll just about anywhere.

On Friday night, the Blues were the hotter team, handing the Devils their first home loss in regulation in 2016-17. And it wasn’t particularly close, with St. Louis winning 4-1.

It’s a convenient time to note that the Blues rank among the hottest teams in the NHL. Most recently, they’re 5-1-1 in their last seven games, but they’ve been especially impressive since they flirted with .500 at 7-6-3. Beginning with a 4-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 15, the Blues are on a 8-2-1 tear.

This leaves them second in the Central with a 16-8-4 record.

That’s impressive stuff.

This 4-1 win was quite the showcase for Robby Fabbri and Vladimir Tarasenko, in particular. Tarasenko collected three assists while Fabbri scored two goals on Friday night. His second goal was particularly slick:

The Blues are right in saying that this was a pretty fitting opportunity to drop a “Holy Jumpin.”

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk has been the most difficult goalies to score against this season. Leave it to a high-level player like Leon Draisaitl to make it look this, well, “easy.”

Draisaitl scored his 13th goal of 2016-17 by capping this pretty give-and-go play with Benoit Pouliot. You can see the frustration from Dubnyk at the end of the tally, as if he was saying “How was I supposed to stop that?” (though probably with more colorful language).

Draisaitl came into Friday with five goals and three assists in his last five games, so he’s been almost unstoppable lately.